Friday Night Lights Season 3 Episode 9

Game of the Week

Recap

Back from New York, Tim Riggins arrives in Dillon to find his car banged up and resting in a tree. Tim also finds that this brother, Billy, is no longer engaged to a stripper.

Tyra's rodeo boy, Cash Waller, may have more weaknesses than infidelity.

It's learned from Buddy Garrity that the upcoming game will be shown on national television.

When Tami Taylor breaks the news to her students, the Dillon High lunchroom suddenly turns into spring break, with boys taking off their shirts for the camera crews.

Tim Riggins, who never took a class he didn't love to cut, has colleges knocking down his door, essentially begging to give him football scholarships.

Matt Saracen, however, is a good student but has a month left to apply and is considering skipping college altogether so he can continue to take care of his grandmother.

Tim can't even be bothered to meet with college recruiters.

When Lyla Garrity offers to drive him to his recruiting meeting, Tim is, as expected, drunk and more flippant than usual.

Lyla kicks him out of her car.

But just as Friday Night Lights earlier showed us a divide between the rich and the middle class, the dueling college plots brought the third season back around to the academics-versus-athletics debate.

Tim blows off a recruitment meeting, and skips most of his classes, yet he's given a ticket to college because the starting backfield at San Antonio State is graduating.

Meanwhile, Saracen, one of Dillon's most honorable students has ,a series of roadblocks stacked in front of him. Although his estranged mom has offered to take care of grandma, the latter can hardly stand the former.

They do start to bond, ever so slightly, over a Panther football game.

Matt's mom seems to be serious about making amends, and Matt desperately wants - needs - to go to college so that he's willing to put aside any doubts.